Thursday, April 20, 2006

what's the message in this photo? and who is responsible for conveying that message? is it the sculptor or the photographer?

the sculptor is mute. he lost his voice the moment that someone took the photo. for better or for worse, with the touch of a button, his art became my art. the statue appears smack-dab in the middle of the picture; it's a rather ordinary composition. still, despite the boring arrangement, it was the photographer, not the sculptor, who determined this perspective. it was the photographer who recontextualized the picture by situating it in a blog entry about the resurrection. it was the photographer who redirected your attention from the odd triangle-shaped head to the outstretched, exalting arms.

so, what is this all about? I will tell you what it's about. it's about transformation. there's a miracle here. check out my image(s) from maundy thursday / good friday (april 13). and now jump back to today's image--that's the same statue. maybe i'm overstating the contrast here, but these are two very different images. horror and adoration. pain and praise. it's as if they're three days apart.

i'm the photographer, and i say that triangle man is me. triangle man is us. triangle man is all of humanity. we are triangle man, and we are watching jesus. we are watching crucifixion and resurrection. we are watching shawshank redemption. we are watching our lord 'crawl through a river of sh*t and come out clean on the other side.'